Flanging machine



A. H M CABE FLANGING MACHINE Feb. '5, 1946,

Filed Aug. 24, 1942 Witness 5 zwme s 2 sheets-sheet 1 Z1822 MW Patented Feb. 5, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLA-NGING MACHINE Aifred H. McCabe, Lawrence, Mass; Lauretta M. "McCabe executr'ix of said Alfred H. McCabe, deceased, assignor to Annie .A. IMcCalbe, Frederick C. .McCabe, and Francis H. McOabe, a partnership doing business as McCabe Manufacturing Company, Lawrence, Mass.

Application August'24, 1942, *SerialNo. 456,104 8 Claims. (Cl. '153-l6) The present invention relates to flanging machines and more particularly to that type of machine designed for .cold-flanging the curved edges of metal plates to form circular flanged ends orheads of boilers, tanks, etc., and constitutes an improvement on the flanging machine disclosed in the patent to Hugh McCabe, No. 1,006,861, dated October '24, 1911.

The machine of that patent operates to flange a circular disk or plate by subjecting successive small portions or sections of the marginal portion of the disk to 'a series of "bending operations or steps o'fllimited extent, whereby the material is gradually and progressively brought to the designed angular position to form the flange.

Formerly, it was the practice in making these flanged heads, or boiler ends, to make the bend of the flange of relatively short'radius, i. e., three inches or less for heads up to eight feet in diameter. More recently amuch longer radius of bend is employed, the A. S. M. E. (American 'So- 'ciety of Mechanical Engineers) standard being a radius that is six per cent or the diameter of the flanged head. Thus, for a head eight 'feet in diameter the bend of the flange wouldibe about a'radius of approximately five and three-fourths inches. While the machine of "the McCabe'Patent No. 1,006,!361 operated successfully "to cold flange .a disk or plate with the old, relatively short radius of bend, such a machine was unsatisfactorywli'en usedto form the present type of long radius bend, because the free marginal portion or edge of the flange, instead of being circular or cylindrical, had a wavy or undulating contour.

These waves or undulations, .it is believed, were caused .by the excess of'me'ta'l measured peripherally or laterally which results from the reduction in the diameter of such marginal portion as it was bent from its original extended to its final contracted position. For example, if a flanged head of eight-foot diameter were to be formed with the A. S. M. Eustandard radius of bend, the

peripheral orcircumierential length of the outer margin of the bend would be reduced nearly twenty-one .inches .over the peripheral length of this .same portion .in the original work disk, .or nearly twice .the reduction if .the older three .inch' radius band had been used. Since all these flanges have a straight or cylindrical .portion or band at theirfree margins, an even greater .re-

of the type disclosed in the prior McCabepatent, to operate successfully to form flanges with the present standard longer radius of bendby providing means whereby as the bending oper-ationprogresses, the peripheral length of the free mar-- 'ginal portion of the flange will be progressively shortened until when the flange has reached its final predetermined position, it will be substantially circular or cylindrical without undulation or distortion.

I "have discovered that if in addition to the bending operation, the marginal portion of "the work be subjected to a com-pressing operation while under "stress, this 'undulation or wavy edge of the flange will be avoided'and a smooth circular flange from angle to edge wil1 be produced.

The flange so formed, I have noted, has been substantially increased in thickness, to the greatest extent adjacent the edge-and progressively less inwardly therefrom. This-increase, it is believed, represents the transfer of metal laterally from the side margins ofthe bent down portions towards the middle of such portions, as the *width of "such portions, particularly adjacent the periphery, is reduced.

Since only a small portion of 'the flange area is bent in each cycle 'o'f'operation in the repeated series of operative steps in forming the *fiange, the amount of metal to be transferred in any single bending and compressing operation is rel- *atively slight and such transfer can be success- .iu'lly accomplished without requiring thehea'ting of the metal.

"The present invention consists inthe provision in a cold hanging machine of the :above :general type, of meanswhereby each incremental portion of the flange is subjected to acompressing operation in addition to the bendingand stressing operation, in order to reduce progressively "the width thereof, more particularly the peripheral or edge portions of such portion, :by increasing the thickness thereof. Preferably this is accomplished by providing an anvil or abutment member against which the incremental portions of the flange'a're compressed by "the bending-element of the machine-in its final movement .duction in peripheral length than that specified would necessarily result, the amount depending uponthe depth of the band.

It is the object of thepresent invention-to adapt machines for cold .fianging metal plates, such as in -a bending-stroke.

In the accompanying drawingsw-hich illustrate the present invention as applied to the machine of the 'McCabe Patent No. "l;00'6;861, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of t'hemachine 'with' the parts in position to receive the work; Fig. 2 i 'a s'ide-elevation, partly in section, on an enlarged scale, showing the work "and bending and "compressing mechanisms just "th bending and compressing power stroke of the bender.

operations have been completed; Fig. 3 shows in perspective, on an enlarged scale, one of a. series of removable anvil blocks which support the work during the compressing operation; Fig. 4 is another perspective ofthe lifting member carried by the-bender block for lifting theanvilslfrom inoperative to operative positions; Figs. 5, 6 and 7 showing different stages of operation of the ma chine, Fig. 5 showing the work and operative parts before any bending whatsoever has been produced in the marginal portion of the metal disk; Fig. 6 showing the position of the'work and operative parts at the end of the first bending-and compressing operation, and Fig. 7 showing the same at the end of the next to the last bending and compressing operation; and Fig. 8 is a horizontal section on line 8 8 of Fig. 7 showing the parts in horizontal section. V

The machine shown in these drawings corresponds in its general features of construction with themachine of Patent No. 1,006,861, and it comprises means for supporting and clamping the sheet metal work, ordinarily a disk, with an extended free marginal portion to be turned or bent to form the flange, a be'nder for engaging and imparting a recurring series. of limited bending .movements to small portions of such margin, an oscillating support for the bender, and a pneumatic power cylinder with suitable control devices for actuating the support and thebender in its bending and return strokes.

: ,Beferring to Fig. 1, the work is supported upon the table or work support I, which is arranged to beraised by the wedge 5 to press the work firmly against the top clamp plate 6. The wedge is-actuated through. the link 1, bell-crank lever .8 and-rod 9 from the pneumatic cylinder H! with manual control valve H whereby the compressed .airmay be admitted to either end of the cylinder to raise or lower the support I The bender 2 is provided with an operating base plate I! to engage a small, wedge-shaped portion of the unsupported margin of the work plate to impart thereto a bending movement of the desired limited extent. When operating upon the curved margin of a metaldisk, the plate is concave on its operating face to give a slight curve orarc to the work, as hereinafter described. The bende is mounted upon a segmental carrier I9 supported for oscillatory movementin .a segmental guideway in the frame of the machine and provided with a segmental actuating gear 24. This gear isengaged by the rack Ziextending from the pneumatic powercylinder 2! controlled through the hand valve 28. Actuationof the valve in one direction causesoutward movement of the I piston rod and rack, imparting clockwise movement to the segmental gear 24 and effecting the Actuation of the valve in the opposite direction reverses the motion of these parts and causes the return or idle stroke of the bender.

' After each operation of the bender on a short section of the marginal portion of the plate, the

latte isunolamped, turned slightly to bring into position the adjacent unbent portion, again clamped and the bender again operated to protions to produce still further bending ofthe flange portion, the rack 25 is withdrawn from engageof theplate, another adjustment of the rack will be made and another series of still further bending operations carried out, and so on, until the flange is brought to final position which is ordinarily at right angles to the plane of th plate or head, the plate 46 fixedly mounted upon the frame of the machine serving as a stop to limit the final bending movement and thus insure the correct angular position of the completed flange. The flange contacting face of this plate is slightly convex to cooperate with the concave face of the bender plate IT and impart a slightly curved or are shape to each flange portion operated upon so that the flange when completed will be cylindrical throughout its perimeter and not composed of a large number of fiat or tangential surfaces.

It will be noted that in the McCabe patent drawings the curvature of the ounded upper corner of the table or work support about which the flange is bent is of relatively shortradius, to produce the sharperbends injaccordancewith the then-prevailing practice.

It will also be noted that in the series of bending operations as practiced by this machine of the McCabe patent, the extent of each bending operation is determined solely by the extent of movement of the bender, there being no abutment or other stop to limit the bending movement of the flange, except in the final series, when in order to determine accurately the final position of the flange, a stop plate is employed.

In order to modify this machine and its mode of operation so that it can produce the flanges with the much longer radius of bends now required, without giving a scalloped or Wavy margin or edg to the flanges, the table or work support I has been formed with a very much greater radius of curvature at its inner upper corner, and there have been provided anvil or abutment blocks against which each bent portion of the flange or margin is forcibly compressed to cause the cold flow of the material with resulting decrease in peripheral width of each section with a corre sponding increase in thickness, particularly adja' cent the edge.

Theseanvii or abutment blocks are preferably formed in a series with'cooperating nesting surfaces, the entire seriesbeing employed for the first series of bending movement and one block being removed successively for each new series of steps. I V

It is also desirable that the abutment block or blocks shall move back and forth frominoperative to operative position so that they will not interfere with the. positioning of the plate be tween successive operations of the. bender.

As shown inFigs. 1 and .2, the anvil or abutment blocks 50, 52 and '54 are positioned against the abutment plate 46, all three blocks being in operation when the first step or series of bending operations are carried out; Fi 1 shows these blocks in their lowered, or inoperative position which they assume when a plateis to be inserted in the machine or to be repositioned for an ther bending operation' As the bender advances to make its bending stroke, these blocks are raised,

as shown in Fig. 2, and in'this position support the er nan'ee earth of "the plate against i sion at the tender, Conversely, as the bender retracts, the blocks are lowered from their operative position, shown in Fig. 6, to their 'iiiope'r'atiifeposjition,shown Fig.5. K

jjIjhe anvil hlb'eks of genera-1 wedge shape with ir'pht 'con ex and back concave faces, jas in Fig. gs, an are positioned with the ty thejshdulder to on tnet ird wedge e4, which, when the header is retracte 'iestsjipoh the arohat'e getawa or the machine. Bymea scr the tension springs t2, one on each sifie 'bf the machine, securedfat 1QI1e end to one or another of the pin 64 extending jiroin eec side bf the blocks -5o, e2 and s4, and'at the other end to thepins t5 the frame or the machine, the trees are held securely in proper to ti'on S'et arerree to be raised endfie'weredaereqiiired.

The mechanism for raising and iowerin'gfthe elders from ino erative to operative position, ebmpr ses the curved shoefo'i cam tn "seeuredfto :thie lower oi the bender "2 by cOunt'e'rshhk bolts 12 which cam in the downward oi operae strekje "or thejb'e'nder engages the hot-tom face er the third block 54 and through its eamma e "or weag'ine action raises such 'blockfan'dfwith it the 'ahd s'ebo r'id blocks sup orted thereby f the position shown in Fig. 5 to that-shoWn in Fig. '6. The pattern-or w qer ndp'ortidn's of the -fiist and eeconahieeks to jahd *52 are hositioned above the euiaewey so that the'o'am may pass beneat the same "and out of contact therewit the p eces remaining their lowermost position :iintil the cam oi" shoe engages and lifts the third blbck Whibh in turn 'r'aii's'es blotks 52 and to. 'The piate 4% it; cut away at 1 4 to-per- -iin'it the passage of the cam or -s1'i'o'e 1 D in the latifi: portioifiin its operativestroke v :Ih the arewine's the machine shown as pre- Vided 'With a set oi-three anvil "blocks and with this arr ngement the flange will be bent f-rdin its "riiti'fiii to its final position "in rear series or --steps er bending operations, the first one bein per'fd mea with all three blocks in place, the ecbnd. step with two blo'o'k's in'po'sitidn, the tI- ii'rd *et'ep'wit enl' one 'hi'oekinthe iiiabhine, "and the fourth Step with all three blocks removed and compression taking place against the plate 46. These numbers of blocks andfof -"s't'ep's of operation have been found satisfactory With-edn'i'rhon wei'ehtsorthicknes'ses of plate andwith the usual 'Hiiilhdf fian'e. Whie, however, a heavier than 'hoiinai late is employed or a deeper than "the nsiial fiarige is to be formed, it-may be desirable I til prtivide a greater hufnber 10f thin-her bI'ocks tiftth thr'ee and te-operate with a g'r'eaite'i ri-iir'i-iber of-Stiisthhn fdur, as abtiiie 'fiesoi i-hti.

ln'the opratibn er the machine ah'dhfor'e -the has been meet-ted, the parts are inthe pci tidn sheen in Fig. 1, 'W'Vith the wedge '5 ie-- tfaoted the'bIa'filping plate I lower-ed. The

henl'ei' is in its tdp position with the oam 'o'r sh-oe l0 withdrawn from beneath the anvil block 54, arid the three "blodiis in their lowered position. The work is then inserted in the machine with its free edge extended. beyond the clamping memher-s the instance required fte make the range of the desired depth. f'he immediate p ts are then the "postman shown in Fig. 5, the

5' inea-nsof thefconti'ching hand valte ror the eyiihder H], the operator eeuses actuation of the wedge hlock 5 to raise the bettom tier-hp I to ramp the work se urel'y upper el-amp h. Then, y proper manipulation the eontrol 'ifaiy'e 2-8, he eau'ses the rack '25 to be actuated aha throug it "the segmental hear '2' and the bender 2. The ten er plate H "is quickly brought into engagement with the free margin bf the workand in ts continued-movement bends the eowhweratly atoiit the rbh'nded end or the work support i, Meanwhile the smear cam 10 is pa's'" iifig beneath the ailv'il 1310131 15 50 and 52 to engage bicck timid raise all three blocks tb'the esiuoh'shewn 2 and 6, the bloeks "i'a'hing their upper or operative position just before the portion bf the plate operaited upon is brought into contact with the first block. eontinned motion or the tender brings the parts into thepos'ition shdwnfin'Figs. 2 and 6, with the bent portion or the work in "contact with the eece or block 58. This completes, as itwere, the bending operation, but the ep'erator continues to supply tom-pressed air to the power cylinder 21, increasthe "p s'eur'e on the work between the bender plate ndthe anvu blook =50 until-it is sufficient to eaiise the cold thew of metal from the slides of the work inwardly t'oward the middle, particu1arly at the periphery where the width is greater, therebi; increasing the flhieliiiees or the bent and eeiaeressed rk p'ortion, hioife "espeeially adj aceiit the margin.

Oi'i 'orn'pletibn er the compressing stroke the y'al've 28, muses the retu'rn movement of the bender to it's origin-"a1 position durin which time the ah'v-ii weeks are lowered. The clam ing member or Work support I is then released by pro er 'me nipiilatie of the valve ll for the clamping cylinder 1-0, and' the work, then being 121nc'larn ped and tree, is turned sue-hey to bring the next adjacent portion into proper position for bending "and compression, The above described operat on" 'e'ate'cl asumeient humberoitimes until the re margin or the plate has been "given its'prel in'iinary set or bend.

To adjust the maehine-forthe -'s'econd series of steps 'of bending and compressing operations, the rack' i is adjusted 'iipon the segmental gear 24 teicswer the ='str'oke of the bender, both with -resp'ect to its initial and to its final positions, so that in its-peter sti'oke it will il'npalt further b'endi'ng to the work. Before this is done block 51 will he removed, the 'compre'ssion springs 62 "being eetaehea from the pins *64 on the sides of {the block and a'ppli'ed to the p'i-n's on hl'ook 52. The work 'Will now'b'e clamped and the bender again actuated a's b'efor e, alternate re-positioni h gs 6f the 'Work and actiiatioris of the bender i'intirthe secondetep or series hasbeen completed.

Th'ethird and-fourth steps or'series follow in the same manner, the lattersseries being performed with all =of the blocks removed. and the work '13 ein'g compressed against the fixed plate -46.

"On completion of the-finahstep when the work i's 'unclamped and removed-from the machine, it will 'be found that a flange has been formed with -a true circular free margin, without waves or undul-ation's, but of substantially rgreater thickness, particularly adjacentthe margin, than before the bending operation was begun.

While the machine shown in the drawings has been described as forming a 'rightangled flange in four bending and compressionsteps'git is obvious that any desired angle up to 90 can be obtained by the use; of theproper number for properly shaped anvil-blocks;and ;-proper operation oithe bender actuating devices. Q j j 7 Only one former-shape of table or worksupport has been shown in the drawings, but it is to be understood that tables of difierent shapes may be supplied to provide forvarying radii of curvatures for various diametersofithe work in accordance with the A. S. M. E. standard,

While the present invention has been shown as embodied in a particular construction of machine and parts thereof, it is to be understood that in its broader aspects it is not limited thereto but may be'embodied in other constructions and arrangements within the; scope of the appended claims.

,Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: H

1. A flanging machine for cold fianging the curved edge of a metal platehaving, in combination, supporting and clamping devices for holding the plate with an unsupported margin, 2.

, bender, a series of movable interlocking abutment members movable as a unit between operative and inoperative positions, and mechanism for actuating the bender and the abutment members, including means engaging one of the series of abutment members to actuate the series.

2. A fianging machine'for cold fianging the curved edge of a metal plate having, in combination, supporting and clamping devices for holding the plate with an unsupported margin, a bender, an oscillating support for the same, a movable abutment member, means carried by the oscillating support for causing the abutment member to move between inoperative andoperative positions, andmechanism for oscillating the support to cause the bender tov bend successive portions of the plate and to compress the same to reduce the peripheral-length of the curved edge thereof, the support moving the abutment up into operative position when the support is oscillated in the direction to render the bender operative, and into inoperative position when the support is oscillated in the opposite direction.

3. A flanging machine for, cold flanging the curved edge of a metal plate having, in combination, supporting andclamping devices forholding the plate with an unsupported margin, a bender, a series of removable interlocking supplementary abutment membersadapted as such members are successivelyremoved meet a time, to provide a series of abutment faces of progressively varying angularity, and mechanism for actuating the bender to bend and compress a portion of the margin of the plate on successive actuations of the bender to. bring such portion to the desired final angle of bend.

4. A fianging machine for cold flanging the edge of a metal plate having, in combination, supporting and clamping devices. forholding the plate with an unsupported margin,: a bender, a fixed abutment plate and a series of separately and successively removable cooperating wedgeshaped abutment blocks adapted to be supported by the fixed plate against the thrust of the bender to provide an abutment'face of progressively variable angularity as the blocks aresuccessively removed, and mechanism for actuating the bender to bend successive portions of the margin of the plate against each abutment face in succession to impart the desired final angle of bend to such portions. l

5. A fianging machine for cold hanging the curved edge of a metal plate having, in'combination, a support for the plate, a clamp to hold the plate securely on the support with an unsupported margin, a bender arranged to move in an arcuate path in engagement with a portion of such margin adjacent its periphery, mechanism for actuating the bender in a successive series of arcuate strokes to cause it to bend such portion in increasing degree with each successive series of strokes, and abutment means comprising a plurality of abutment blocks, said blocks being shaped to provide an abutment face of variable angularity against which such portion will be compressed by the bender on a bending stroke, and means for removably mounting the blocks in position to support against the pressure of the bender the portion of the work being bent, with the angularity of the abutment 'face corresponding to the stroke of the bender.

6. A flanging machine for cold fianging the curved edge of a metal plate having, in combination, a support for the plate, a clamp to hold the plate securely on the support with an unsupported margin, a bender arranged to move in an arouate path in engagement with a portion of such margin adjacent its periphery, mechanism for actuating the bender in a successive series of arcuate strokes to cause it to bend such portion in increasing degree with each successive series of strokes, an abutment comprising a plurality of abutment blocks to provide an abutment face against which such portion will be compressed by the bender on a bending stroke, and means for supporting a variable number of said blocks 'in contact one with another to provide an ,abutment face of variable angularity,

7. A flanging machine for cold fianging the edge of a metal plate having, in combination, supporting and clamping devices for holding the plate with an unsupported margin, 2, bender movable in an arcuate path to bend and compress a portion of such margin in a successive series of operative strokes, an abutment member movable transversely of the path of the bender into and out of position to support against the pressure of the bender the portion being bent and compressed, and actuating mechanismior the bender and abutment to cause the bender to make a successive series of operative and return strokes and the abutment member to move into and out of supporting position when the bender makes its operative and return strokes, respectively.

8. A flanging machine for cold fianging the edgeof a metal plate having, in combination, supporting and clamping devices for holding the plate withan unsupported margin, a bender arranged to engage one face of the work, means comprising a series of cooperating separately removable abutment members for presenting an abutment face of progressively variable angularity as such members are successively removed, and mechanism for actuating the bender in a curved variable path to bend progressively successive portions of the margin of the plate and to compress the same against an abutment face- 

